Sonnenaufgang
by Nyan Rajanu
Summary: Seto is on an annoying trip to Egypt. There he discovers something much less innocent than it should be... Warning: Yaoi, Prideshipping
1. The bet

Sonnenaufgang

by Nyan

AN: In my story Seto is sixteen, like his friends, Yami was fifteen when he died, or rather… well let me surprise you! I will explain other characters when I introduce them. This will be SetoxYami centric. I have not decided about sidepairings yet.

It is rated M because I don't want to hold back if an idea crosses my mind, plus there will be some swearing.

"speech"

'_thoughts_'

disclaimer: Is this really necessary? Everyone writes disclaimers, but it's pretty obvious that I don't own anything mentioned.

Chapter 1 The bet

The first crimson red rays that crept over the yellow sand of the desert and made the soft dunes glow like a sea of blood, steadily in motion and never resting. They made the already long gone and forgotten darkness of the night disappear and indicated another breathtaking sunrise. The freezing chill that had fought the morning just a bit longer than the darkness faded away under the power of the sparkling heat that slowly engulfed the gentle hills, making the sight of the bloody sea even more startling.

But Seto Kaiba couldn't care less.

At this very moment he was sitting in the front of a jeep, arms constantly folded, like they had melted with his sides, face straight and emotionless, despite the anger that raced inside him. Not even the beautiful sunrise could stop his eyes from narrowing, the cold cerulean of his orbs expressionless and even bored.

Nothing in the teen's appearance would give away the fact that he was just witnessing the most breathtaking event in his entire life so far. If he would have been truly watching the dawn, he would have noticed how much he worshipped the raw, natural and jet incredibly pristine demonstration of pure power.

A slight shiver ran down his spine as a breeze entered the car through the open windows. A black sleeveless shirt under a trench coat had been the worst choice anyone could make for spending a day in the heat of the desert.

Seto did not want to be here, for nothing in the world. But it was his fault, of course. How he could have even considered taking this bet, any bet for crying out loud, was beyond him. He knew better, didn't he?

Stupid Bakura. Seto knew, only the albino could come up with such an annoying and jet very well plotted plan. His best friends, or at least he had considered them as such until they came up with THAT, had managed to make him drunk. This was a bitter tasting surprise on its own, since he NEVER drank ANY alcohol. But this mystery could, and most certainly would, be solved the moment he got back to Japan.

The four of them had had a lot of fun watching different movies and making fun of the plot, the actors, the scenery, the plot, the dialogues, the plot, the special effects and , of course, the plot. Everything had been fine till they had watched the movie "The mummy". Somehow Jou had got the absolutely ridiculous idea that he, Seto Kaiba, was afraid of mummies.

On second thought, he actually had an idea where this had come from. It was a conspiracy exactly at Bakura's taste.

Needless to say, the drunken CEO had taken the bait and was now up to proof his fearlessness, he scowled at that thought, by joining an expedition team.

The sun had finally risen over the horizon and the intense shades of crimson were paling and fading, leaving the battlefield to the heat and brightness of the beginning new day.

The jeeps were heading west, following a nonexistent path towards their destination: The valley of the kings.

xxx

Seto got out of the car and stretched his legs, which had got stiff from the journey. He suppressed a yawn and blinked into the now unbearable hot sun. He wondered if he should take of his trench coat, but he knew the black shirt would heat up even more and the bare (and snow white) skin would catch the worst sunburn ever seen in a matter of minutes.

The teenager turned to the British professor that he had realised in the first seconds of his arrival, was in charge of his "entertainment". Although it was obvious that the archaeologist was not fond of his new job as a babysitter.

'_The miracle of money_.' Seto thought sarcastically.

"Anything special I should know?", He asked in a casual voice.

Professor Bakura (No he was definitely not related to his former best friend, since the professor's name was, unlike his friend's, a surname) focused his attention on the young CEO and rose an eyebrow.

"Well, just stay behind and touch nothing. It could get dangerous if you decide to make an extratour, so stay with the group. This tomb is already fully discovered, but you can never know for sure.", he answered the teen's question, the discomfort of Seto's presence in his voice much too obvious to fool anyone.

The teen sighted. At least Mr. Bakura wasn't used to lie in such a way. This was more that could be said of most of his business partners.

"Let's get over with it.", he stated in a slightly better mood than before.

xxx

A group of five archaeologists plus one annoyed CEO entered a dimly lit pathway. Suddenly Seto was glad of his trench coat, as the cool and slightly foul smelling dry air made him shiver. Sand and dirt crunched under his feet, breaking the silence along with their footsteps.

"This is the tomb of a very unimportant Pharaoh of the XXVIII dynasty. It has been robbed and demolished soon after his death.", Mr. Bakura whispered, his expression now free of anger and content about the listener.

"The mummy is in a very bad shape and it was almost worthless for scientific purposes. But it was the very first I ever seen and it kinda grew to my heart.", he chuckled softly before he continued, "It's a weird feeling to see how clean and presentable the tomb is now."

Seto rose an eyebrow at the words "clean" and "presentable", but said nothing and let the excited professor continue his lecture.

"Even if the few leftovers and the remaining pictures were nothing special for the older, or rather more experienced, colleagues of mine, it was an event I would never like to miss for anything in the world. Now we are reaching the first of the inner chambers…"

But the teen didn't listen anymore.

Something had caught his attention, and he was not quite sure what it was yet. Something was different, and it felt incredibly wrong.

"…carving shows us a scene out of the…"

'_Something bad is up to happen_…' But the same moment the CEO thought it he remembered his friends and anger welled up in his stomach. This was exactly what they were imagining him to think, and he was determined to prove them wrong.

"…pity that the most important part is…"

The professor touched a part of the wall and every sense inside of the teen started to scream.

'_Something bad is happening right NOW_!' his thoughts panicked and like a response, a deep grumbling echoed in the room, followed by a rumble and a deep crack that spread it's way across the ceiling.

"RUN!"

Nobody knew or even cared who had said that, but some of them followed the order anyway.

The rest of the group was too stunned to blink, let alone move themselves out of the danger, like Seto or professor Bakura.

The next second a deafening crack shot through the ancient, and most likely soon to be, tomb, indicating the ceiling to come down, and everything went black.

AN: What do you think of it? This is my first fic ever! Good? Bad? Awful? Please tell me!


	2. Buried alive

Sonnenaufgang

by Nyan

AN: This chapter could get a bit disgusting, just that you are prepared. On the other hand, I am VERY sensible at the topic of blood, so it might be nothing special to you guys. Let me know what you think of it!

Chapter 2 Buried alive

Soft moans ran through the chamber, or what was left of it. Seto moved his legs.

'_Good, nothing too serious. If I just could see anything_…'

Like an answer, a flashlight switched on. Now he could examine his whole body properly.

'_Nothing but a few scratches and plenty of dust_.' He thought and started to look at his surroundings. He had been lucky. The young CEO was lying exactly in the middle of a circle of pure destruction.

Professor Bakura, who was holding the flashlight, had been equally lucky and was on the floor next to him. Another member of the team could be seen with a few injuries on his legs, but there was not a trace from the rest of the team. Or at least Seto thought so till he saw a bloody arm reaching out from under a big and heavy boulder…

He turned away and hoped his upset stomach wouldn't give away it's contents.

The teenager heard a gurgling noise beside him and figured that Mr. Bakura had discovered the arm too.

Determined to focus his attention on something beside the disturbing question what had happened to the rest of the team, Seto stood up and walked over to the injured archaeologist. He knelt down beside the other man and started to rip stripes out of his already damaged trench coat.

"Has anyone got some water?", he asked in a cold and calm voice that even surprised himself.

"I must try to wash the wounds, otherwise they will infect."

"And what for?", the injured man asked hysterically, breaking the silence in the damaged room, "We are already dead! What's the point in prolonging our suffer!?"

Seto narrowed his eyes and hissed freezingly: "Nobody is going to die until I allow it. Since you haven't realised it, there is quite a good chance for us to get out of this. It looks like the earthquake has opened a path to another tomb. Let's hope it's discovered."

All heads turned to see the broad gap that had appeared behind them.

"He's right.." Mr. Bakura breathed, just before his hopes fell again, "But there shouldn't be anything. If there really is a tomb behind that gap, it certainly isn't discovered jet."

The brunette shrugged his shoulders, "Well, than we'd better get starting to search our way out, or would anyone prefer to wait here till we _maybe_ get dug out in time?"

He finished his improvised bandages and got up.

After that, he walked over to the gap, crossed his arms and smiled masochistically at professor Bakura:, "You're the expert, lead the way."

xxx

It had not taken the three of them too much effort to squeeze themselves through the gap since it was quite big. Now they were wandering through confusing corridors. The two archaeologists couldn't resist making comments about the amazingly good shape everything was in and from time to time stopping to observe some carvings more carefully.

At least now Seto knew what the professor had meant when he had said that the last tomb was clean…

For the second time this day the teen had a weird feeling that something was out of order. It didn't feel dangerous this time, but it felt definitely wrong. He sniffled. It couldn't be the air, in fact it smelled better than in the other tomb. Almost…moist?! In the middle of the desert!?

"Umm… Is it supposed to be wet in here?", he asked while he examined the partially shimmering walls. The other two glanced around, eyes growing larger and larger when they were so cruelly forced out of their ecstasy.

"No, definitely not. In fact, the ancient builders put much afford into making sure nothing like that could happen. Not that there was a big chance in the first place, since there shouldn't be any water within a radius of a few miles. If there ever was a mummy in here it is certainly decomposed by now…", the professor's voice trailed of as the small group reached another cross.

"This is so ridiculous! Sure, the passages were constructed to confuse and distract people but this is a… maze! Besides, it's much too large that it could have escaped discovery for so long!", Mr. Bakura almost yelled, his overflowing joy suddenly turning into anger.

"It's magic. There's no other explanation.", the injured archaeologist piped up.

'_Great. Now he turned from a useless fool to a superstitious useless fool. What have I got myself into?!'_

Loud he said: "There exists nothing like magic. Live with it.", saying it he turned right, not waiting for the others to follow.

"Why are you going this way?", professor Bakura asked suspiciously.

The finally fed up CEO turned around, ready to yell at the older man, when he felt something drop on his forehead. He furiously wiped away the drop, when he caught a glimpse in the corner of his eye of what he was wiping away: blood.

With a very upsetting feeling in his stomach he turned to a shimmering part of the wall, suddenly wishing that it was his own blood, even if that meant that he had worse injuries than he had thought. He hesitantly stroke the wall with one of his fingers and looked at it. Now there was no more doubt where the crimson liquid had come from. He gulped and hoped the labile man wouldn't realise.

But I was already to late.

"The walls… they are all covered with blood!", the high-pitched voice rang through the air.

"He's right. The blood is eighteen fresh or, more likely, there are substances in it to stop clotting. We don't know whether it's here on purpose jet, but my first assumption is that it's here to scare unwelcome intruders.", the brunette said calmly, trying desperately to calm down the other again.

It seemed like he had succeeded one more time.

xxx

After a while the surroundings started to change. Seto figured that they had found the centre of the maze. That was not what he had hoped for, but it was a start. On the other hand, it had got much more dangerous. They had barely dodged three traps during the last minutes. The blood had got more and more, now it even covered the floor.

Turning around a corner they could finally see the source of the crimson liquid. It was floating out from under a heavy door.

'_We should definitely not enter.' _"Let's look what's behind it.", the teen said instead.

'_What's wrong with me? Yes, maybe I am a bit reckless, but I am not stupid! Well, at least I shouldn't be it now!' _

"I don't think that's a good idea. We can always turn around and search for the exit.", professor Bakura whispered.

'_Yeah that's it! Now I only have to turn around and agree!' _"It's not like we have a choice. We must find out the reason of this.", the CEO heard his own voice ringing in his ears. '_OK, now it's official: I need to spend my next vacation in a mental hospital.'_

He closed the gap between himself and the door and pushed it open.

It led to a rather small, simple built room. The only decorations were hieroglyph carvings on the walls, and even Seto could see that they were special. The used pictures alongside the fact that they looked like someone had just carved them a few days ago mostly resembled nothing he had seen before this day. On the opposite wall of the room was a chair, or rather a simple throne made of dark grey stone, matching the walls.

But it wouldn't have taken a room that simple to draw everyone's attention to the being inhabiting it.

It was a small boy. He sat on the throne, his head bent down and his wet shimmering hair fell into his face, so it was impossible to see his features. He was clearly unconscious, only the chains on his wrists, arms, legs, ankles and around his neck that fixed him tightly to the throne holding the limb form upright. The only piece of garment the boy wore was a short skirt that barely reached down to his knees, not hiding the hundreds of wounds all over his body…

Seto's eyes widened when he looked closer at all those injuries. There weren't only the angry red bruises where the chains touched the pale skin. There were cuts, bruises, stabs, scratches and sometimes it seemed a part of the flesh had simply been cut out… more wounds than anyone could possibly count.

But the worst was the incredible amount of blood pouring out of them. Every single injury was bleeding stronger than should have been possible considering its size. Not a single one of them seemed to close itself like it should do, not even the smaller ones.

'_He's going to bleed to death_!' , thinking that Seto rushed to the boy's side, immediately clutching his hands over one of the bigger wounds, intending to close the flow of the life essence.

He started to panic when he saw how useless his affords were, and started to rip his coat into shreds again, not noticing that he could barely steady his shaking hands.

The young CEO started bandaging every centimetre of skin he could reach, his mind totally blank. Only when he noticed the two pairs of hands joining his efforts, his trembling eased down a little.

The teen tried to grab a wrist to feel the pulse, but the heavy chains got in the way. He examined them.

_'I'd certainly prefer computer locks, but I'll consider these ancient ones as a challenge.' _Now having something to focus on, Seto felt suddenly much better. It wasn't like he didn't have any experience with mechanic locks, he just needed the right equipment.

'_This will do…' _In the time of a blink the first chain was down.

He immediately grabbed the wrist and tried hard to feel something.

"No pulse!", he mumbled, panicking again, "No, I'm just too upset to feel anything. No one without a pulse can bleed that much, and he's bleeding like hell.", he reassured himself, not aware that he had spoken out loud.

The brunette quickly undid the other chains and took the light figure in his arms. He laid the boy on the floor, realising that the flow of blood was finally ceasing a little, although he didn't really know if that was a good sign, considering the situation.

He felt a hand resting on his arm.

"I think now I know what this means.", Mr. Bakura's calm voice reaching the teen, "This looks like a combination of a tomb and a prison. They wouldn't have made such an effort because of a common criminal, but if he was supposed to die, there should be gifts for his afterlife. Considering the huge chambers, there should be plenty of them, and it doesn't look like anything was taken away."

Seto wondered slightly who the other meant with them, but the professor had only stopped to draw in a breath before he continued.

"The only logical conclusion is, that this is a very important person, either considered immortal or responsible for a crime big enough to be denied afterlife."

"I don't know why you even consider that logical. Who would lock up an unconscious boy in an undiscovered tomb? And why? There are much better methods to kill someone and let them vanish. And that what would have happened if we haven't got here in time. Hell, we don't even know if it isn't too late yet.", the CEO asked confused, not getting what the older had meant.

"Moreover, why chain him? He wouldn't have been able to move a finger, even if he would have been conscious. All I can think of is that he may have got into a ritual of a satanistic cult, or something like that."

The archaeologist and his colleague exchanged looks.

"Mr. Kaiba, no one has crossed this door for at least hundred years."

The brunette froze, sure he had misunderstood the last words.

"What? You can't have just said he's already in here for over hundred years? Yeah, he is just in a good shape for a hundred years old man, besides,…"

His sarcastic statement was interrupted by a small movement on the floor.

All three of them looked down, just in time to see a pair of eyes suddenly shot open.

AN: Done done done! This one was surprisingly easy to write! It is much longer than the first chapter too! Sad I can't finish a chapter without a cliff-hanger. I will try harder. I promise.

This chapter is for you, Lareske!


	3. Shock

Sonnenaufgang

by Nyan

AN: This chapter is very short. I don't think you should force chapters to be all the same length. I won't put things together in one chapter that should be separated. I hope you respect that.

I finally figured out how to enable anonymous reviews! (Took me long enough...)

Thanks to Blue September for correcting! Youre the best!

Chapter 3 Shock

A pained moan escaped pale lips and the boy on the floor quickly shut his eyes again.

But the damage was already done. The archaeologist, whose name Seto hadn't bothered to remember backed away, trembling in terror.

Professor Bakura's eyes had grown to the size of tennis balls by now and shivers were running down his back.

The teen's mind was blank.

None of them had ever seen such eyes.

'_These eyes… they're red!_' It wasn't any red either. It was the rich crimson Seto had witnessed at dawn, the same color that covered every wall inside this prison-tomb, the color of the blood that pooled on the floor around them.

He was sure it wasn't because the eyes were simply bloodshot, but the color was natural.

'_They are as red as mine are blue_.' This thought made a strange calmness well all through his body, making him relax as he drowned himself in the mere memory of those eyes.

He looked down again and saw that the eyelids were opened just a tiny gap.

'_Now he looks much older than his size would let you imagine. In fact, he could be just a little bit younger than me…'_

"Darkness…"

The young CEO jumped as he heard a raspy voice coming from the red eyed boy. He patiently watched the lips continuing to move, but no other sound left them.

"What about, 'darkness'?", he finally asked, seeing that the other teen was making no progress in articulating his thoughts.

"Darkness, too much light!" He sounded clearer this time, but what he said confused the teen even more.

'_Too much light? There's hardly any in here!_' Then it hit him. '_He probably hasn't used his eyes for who knows how long! No wonder any light hurts_!'

"Switch of the flashlight. It hurts him."

Both adults stared him in utter disbelief. Quickly snapping out of his trance, Mr. Bakura looked at the body on the floor with disgust, but reached for the switch off button of their only source of light anyway.

The other one let out a scream that made the boy on the floor cringe in pain, reopening a few of his injuries again.

"What?! You can't be serious! This is a demon! We must not listen to him! Do anything, but don't you dare to switch the light off kid! What do you think he was chained and received all those wounds for? His crimes must have been terrible if he was even denied death. We are best off if we kill him right now, before he regains his strength!

Seto had already thought the instable man couldn't get any more disagreeable, but at this comment he really started to hate that guy. He already wanted to jump on the guy's throat when a deep, melodic voice startled him again.

"Maybe he is right."

All three jumped, turned around and took in a sharp breath. The crimson eyed teen was now sitting, his eyes half opened and twitching, obviously awake and fully aware of his surroundings.

The injured archaeologist coughed and a grin spread over the boy's face. The coughs grew heavy and heavier, he soon gasped for air, as if his chest had tightened around his lungs and refused him to breathe.

Then he suddenly stopped. Just the same moment the boys eyes widened fully again.

What he saw in these eyes shocked the CEO to his bones. They were filled with amusement, desperation, hatred, fear, sadistically joy and… madness.

"Who are you?" he asked hoarsely, trying desperately not to look at the archaeologist.

"Who knows, who knows," he answered sadly, without mocking, which surprised Seto genuinely.

'_Does he mean that he doesn't know himself?' _he thought just before the boy vanished in front of his eyes.

Unable to hold himself back any longer he turned around and finally threw up.

AN: Even if it may look like one, this is no cliffie. Seriously. Next chapter will be longer.

Happy birthday to me! Im finally eighteen! My friends kept teasing me because Im the youngest of our group.


	4. Search

Sonnenaufgang

by Nyan

AN: Finally! I haven't even seen a computer for a whole week! I really hope that's over now!

There will be new characters in this chapter. Ryou, Malik, Isis and Rishid. Ryou and Malik are both 15. Isis is 17 and Rishid 21.

I have to warn you, this chapter is not as good as I would like it to be. But I wouldn't have posted it if I thought it was complete crap. So please tell me what you think.

Thank you so much, Blue September!

Chapter 4 Search

Seto Kaiba woke up as the first rays of dawn stole their way through the windows. He sat up in his bed but a headache forced him down again immediately.

'_That was the weirdest nightmare ever_.'

He forced his eyes open to search for an aspirin or two and frowned as he saw his surroundings. Definitely not his room.

'_Sand. Everywhere. Destroyed trench coat. Shit_.'

Despite the still growing headache the memory of the past few days came back. After the crimson eyed teen had vanished, the tomb-prison had practically thrown them out. He had managed to get to the surface rather quickly, even with a very silent professor and a corpse in tow.

A swarm of archaeologists was now searching the area where they had exited the tomb-prison to look for an entrance. Surprisingly, they had not been successful till now.

Of course the young CEO would have already flown home, but the police investigations were taking longer than they should, considering the generous amount of money they had received.

He probably would have taken his jet, but the doctors wouldn't permit it because they thought he could have some kind of shock. And risking losing his pilot licence was definitely not an option.

The brunet would be able to leave in a few days one way or another. Till then he could get as much work as possible done on his laptop.

Seto hadn't even started when his phone rang.

"Yes?" he barked, already annoyed.

"Mr Kaiba? Could you please come to the hospital for some test results? They came in just a few minutes ago."

"I'll be there in a minute."

'_Maybe I'll get out of here earlier than I thought_.'

xxx

A small white haired teen with gentle brown eyes entered the room, in which Mr. Bakura was staying. He saw the professor sitting next to the window, obviously in deep thought, and a small smile tugged on the corners of his mouth.

"Hi dad." He called softly.

The man next to the window turned around to face his visitor, smile almost invisible.

The teen flung himself into the arms of his father.

"Are you OK? It's so good to see you again! The doctors told me you still haven't fully recovered, but what happened exactly?"

Ryou let go of his father, sitting on the bed and looking at him expectantly.

The adult hesitated, unsure what to say. "Well, there was an earthquake, and we got buried and found a new tomb. It was covered in blood. We found an injured boy, and this Japanese businessman freed him from some sort of chains."

"When he woke up…" he shuddered, "his eyes were deep red! It was terrifying! One of my colleagues even had a heart attack and died!"

Ryou had got very pale while his father spoke, his eyes widened in shock.

When he noticed that his father looked at him curiously, he immediately faked a smile.

"You are alright and nothing else matters."

The adult raised his brows, "Why are you even here? I thought you were still at home? You shouldn't even be in this part of the world!"

The white haired teen flinched guilty and looked at his feet.

"Well, uhh… I… wanted to visit you?"

He knew as soon as he said it that it was a very lame excuse and that his father could tell that he was at least not telling the whole truth, but he didn't say anything and settled to staring out of the window again.

He couldn't help sounding a little crestfallen when he spoke again. "That's nice of you."

The heavy silence after this comment finally became unbearable for the teen. "I'm… Visiting hours are almost over, I should go. I'll come again later, dad."

"Alright. Goodbye Ryou."

He slowly went to the door and glanced back one last time, regretful that he had disappointed his father, whom he loved so dearly, once again.

In the silent corridor outside the room he leaned against the white wall and took in some deep breathes to calm down again.

Filled with new determination he took out his phone and dialled the number of his best friend.

"Hey Ryou, What's up?"

"Malik, we're in deep shit."

xxx

"Mr Kaiba?"

The CEO glared at the pretty nurse to show her he was paying attention.

She smiled. "I am glad I can tell you that all tests were negative. You can have your pilot licence back, in two days, because we still need to observe whether or not you show any late symptoms."

Seto frowned, but it was better than he had expected.

'_Now I only have to get through two more days_.'

He would do as much as possible on his laptop, but many things required his presence in Japan, or at least his signature.

'_This is the worst waste of time ever_.'

Unfortunately, this triggered his thoughts to go back to the events of the last days again.

The doctors had told him that the other archaeologist had died because of a heart attack, meaning it was a natural death.

'_Ridiculous. Maybe it was a heart attack, but the boy had been fully aware of his actions and their consequences. He wanted him to die. This makes him a murderer_.'

Normally, he wouldn't have wasted a second thought on a single murderer in a world with so many, but this one was free because of him. And he did not like people being killed because of one of his mistakes.

What was worse was the mere fact that there existed a mistake. Seto Kaiba did not make mistakes.

He knew he had made the right decisions, but nevertheless, the actual situation needed correction.

The brunet was just about to walk around a corner, when a voice caught his attention.

"… in deep shit."

The young CEO stopped. It wasn't really the words that had caught his attention, but the heavy British accent. That and a feeling he would miss something important if he just walked away.

"Dad told me they freed the nameless one."

'Now this is interesting. Could it be…?'

"Yeah, I'm really sure. The description fits perfectly."

Seto leaned casually against the wall, never lessening his attention the conversation.

"Searching for him of course! And we have to hurry. We must not let him get used to his surroundings."

The brunet was getting surer and surer he knew the topic of the conversation.

"No you call them! They are your siblings. And I don't care if she is going to kill you the moment she gets you. Just tell them to meet us in front of the winter palace as soon as possible."

The CEO smirked and turned to leave the hospital.

'_This is going to be even easier than I thought_.'

xxx

Seto had found the perfect spot to survey the upcoming meeting. He was sitting, in a cosy coffee shop, next to a glass wall, with a view of the place, in front of the winter palace and typing on his laptop.

He had already discovered the albino boy he had overheard at the hospital, but there was still no sign from the others that were supposed to come.

He had decided it would be too obvious to listen to them again because they would pay way more attention in a crowded place like this.

The brunet had even considered confronting them to get the information he wanted, but this would be his last option.

xxx

In the meantime the object of the teenage CEO's interest was starting to get nervous.

'At least Malik should be here by now. Maybe he didn't tell Isis and Rishid immediately. But even he should take the situation serious.'

He gasped as he suddenly felt two hands over his eyes.

Ryou whirled around in shock and punched whoever was holding him in the stomach. Hard. The figure doubled over and clutched his hands over his stomach.

"Ryou! What was that for?" the attacker managed to say.

"Oh my God, Malik! I'm so sorry! It was a reflex!"

Said teen brushed away some platinum blonde bangs furiously and glared at the Albino.

"Where did _you_ get reflexes like that from?"

The white haired grinned sheepishly, "Hanging out with you I guess?"

"Whatever. My family is here!"

Malik tried to hide behind Ryou but his sister Isis had obviously forgotten the noodle-incident. Or at least thought it wasn't important anymore.

She turned to Ryou and said calmly:" Explain."

The Albino took a deep breath and explained the situation once again.

After he had finished, he gazed at the worried expressions on the faces of his friends.

It was Isis who again spoke first. "We have to get started immediately. Rishid and I are going to search for hints at the tomb. You two just see if you can find anything here in town. Let's meet again at home after dark. If anyone finds something, call."

xxx

Seto Kaiba had been patient for the last three hours. Now he was up to the point of smacking himself for it. If he had wanted to go through the streets aimlessly, he could have done so without these two fools.

While overhearing the conversation at the hospital, he had really got the impression that they knew something he didn't. But all they had done was proving that they had no clue what they were doing!

Frustrated to no end, he stopped and scowled, actually considering giving up and go back to the Elmarwa hotel and trying something else when he heard a deep voice behind him.

"You like watching fools in action too?"

AN: I know, I know… But you do not want to know how long it would have taken me to finish the scene!

Btw, I will not practice any Ishtar bashing! (or Ryou, of course) _Someone_ is just being arrogant…


	5. Trust

Sonnenaufgang

by Nyan

AN: I'm still alive! This chapter was really hard. I actually finished it about a month ago, typed it, read it through again and thought: 'Holy shit, there is no way I'm going to show this anyone.' I redid it a few times and I think now it at least serves the plot. Yes, I finally planned the plot properly.

I apologise for the looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong delay.

Thanks to Blue September for correcting this chapter and to Gemince for giving me the courage to even think of posting it. I wouldn't know what I should do without you two!

Chapter 5 Trust

"You like watching idiots in action too?"

For one second the Kaiba's control slipped and shock was visible in his eyes. He suppressed the urge to spin around and simply replied, "Actually, no. I can't stand incompetence."

He turned slowly, fully aware that he was at a huge disadvantage and determined to change that. A smirk spread over his face when he felt the adrenaline and excitement rush through his blood.

When he finally saw his opponent, the appearance took him off guard.

'_He looks... different_.'

The most noticeable difference was definitely the hair. Now that it wasn't blood-soaked it looked almost... unreal.

'_Scratch almost, it does look unreal. Like he robbed a styling salon and tried all the products at once_.'

The hair was tri-coloured, generally consisting out of black spikes with crimson tips and blonde bangs that partially stuck into the air like lightning. His clothing had also changed to a pair of baggy dark grey jeans and a T-shirt that was almost two sizes too small.

Realising he had been staring; Seto almost hit himself for his lack of attention in front of an enemy.

'_OK, first distract him_.'

"What are you doing here?" he asked. '_Lame, but it will do_.'

"I am following those two."

"Why?" The brunet took a casual step in the crimson eyed teen's direction.

"They seem to know something about me. I want to know what. Or at least find their meeting point."

Something about the way he said that caught the azure eyed teen's attention. Something combined with what he had said back in...

"Do you mean you want to find out how much they know, or gain the knowledge they have about you?" He furrowed his brows not really expecting the other to answer that question.

The grin on the boy's face was immediately replaced by a frown.

"I want to find out who I am."

'_Well, there we have something in common. I want to know too what you are_.' The young CEO thought sarcastically. '_Does he even realise that he just gave away a weakness_?'

The spiky haired teen pried himself away from the wall and started off, in the direction their targets had left. After a few steps he stopped and looked back.

"We are going to loose them if we don't hurry up."

For a moment Seto just stared. '_Does he actually think I'd help him? All I want is to lock him away so that he can't cause even more damage. But I don't think I should underestimate this opponent. Especially as long as I don't have any further knowledge of his abilities_.' Satisfied with his reasoning he decided not to rush it but to take the opportunity to gain more information and keep his pray close at the same time.

He shrugged his shoulders and followed the shorter male.

xxx

"Ryyyyyyyyyou! This. Is. Pointless."

"Oh, stop whining already. It's not like we have a choice." Ryou rolled his eyes at the behaviour of his blonde friend.

"Of course we have a choice. We could just go back home. We won't find anything like this. Maybe Isis and Rishid found something already and they need us."

"Malik, they would have called if they needed us. But I guess you're right about the uselessness of our search." He sighted. "There's about a zero percent chance that we might accidentally bump into the nameless one."

"Yay!" Malik bounced around and caught up to Ryou.

After a few minutes walk Ryou grew slightly uneasy. "Do you think it's coincidence that he woke up now?"

The blonde frowned. "I don't think so. Something must have triggered it. But no matter what it is, we have to put things in their original order before it's too late." He sighed before he continued. "I don't think something like this has ever occurred before. And the fact that he was stripped of his identity won't really help matters. No matter who he might have been, now he's most likely insane. At least that's what I would be."

Ryou snickered. "You don't need to lose your identity to go insane. You already are."

"Hey!"

xxx

Ryou and Malik reached Isis' office and found the other two already waiting for them.

"Have you found something?" Malik hopefully addressed his sister.

"Come with me. I want to show you something."

The small group followed through the museum and into a large room in the cellar.

Many artefacts were standing around or leaning against the wall, large pots and containers, some of them sealed, some of them broken. On tables were scattered small things of daily use, talismans and even ushebtis. Many boxes looked like they contained scrolls. Most of the space was taken by huge boxes and containers. In short, it looked like a storage room.

Ryou looked puzzled. "What should we find here? The unique stuff is in the exhibit upstairs."

Isis easily dodged a box and replied solemnly, "I keep everything not meant for everyone's eyes down here. It's the last place anyone unauthorised would look."

"You've definitely got a point there." The albino agreed when Isis had finally led the group to their destination.

They were standing in front of a mid-sized box. Isis quickly retrieved a torn piece of papyrus between two layers of translucent plastic and laid it on a table next to a stack of photographs.

"This is the scroll we were never able to translate because it's written in hieratics that resemble nothing else. You could even say it's a completely different style. We have been able to guess the meaning of a few symbols, but we could never be sure. Those, " she pointed at the photographs, "are pictures we've taken in the tomb. It's obviously the same writing style."

"As you can see here," she showed them a particular part on a photo, "there are some symbols as we know them too. They are mixed into the text quite often, maybe because they didn't have the proper ones to express what they were trying to say. Sometimes there are even whole passages written in normal signs. I hope these are translations. That would make it much easier. I don't know if we will ever be able to understand anything if they aren't. We have yet to find out."

Malik furrowed his brows. "But that will take ages! We don't have much time to find the nameless one and return him to the tomb. Why is this particular scroll so important anyway? We already have the spells to seal him again and regain balance."

The black haired woman looked around seriously.

"Yes, we have everything it restore the original order. But we know almost nothing about what we are really doing. Every bit of information we can possibly get is essential."

She faced Ryou. "I know you won't like this, but we'll need help of an archaeologist we can trust because time is running short. Could you ask your father to join us?"

The white haired teen frowned. "And admit that I have been a member of the tomb keepers for over five years without him knowing? Well, I guess it can't hurt to finally come clean. Our relationship is already suffering because he knows that I have secrets. You can count on me."

xxx

None of them had noticed the two shadows following them. It had been quite tricky for the two teens to follow the other ones into and through the museum, but it had been nothing they couldn't handle. At least it was very easy for them to overhear the conversation right next to them because of the mess in the storage room.

They had soon come to the conclusion that their position was very frustrating. The 'tomb keepers' like they called themselves obviously knew what they were talking about. They just wouldn't say it out loud.

The only valuable piece of information Seto had got was that these people were obviously trying to find his temporary co-conspirator and return him to his tomb. That meant that they were possible allies.

Not that he wanted the boy beside him back in the tomb. A prison would do too. And he would have to be _very _desperate to team up with these people, considering their obvious incompetence and lack of results.

He eyed the crimson eyed one carefully. '_No, I have to do this myself, and it's not going to be easy. Maybe I could get him riled up, and he will let his guard down_.'

The teenage CEO quickly wiped the smirk that he felt growing out of his face and whispered carefully, not to attract the attention of the other people in the room.

"Do you really think they know something important? It certainly doesn't look like it."

The red eyed teen frowned. "They do know something. We just have to wait till they say it too." The frown turned into a smirk. "Or do you want to give up already? What a pity."

Now the brunet was pissed. "Who's giving up? I was merely stating the obvious. The only fact I got is that they could be useful for locking you up again."

The tri colour haired one looked at the other with puzzlement written all over his face.

"Why would you want this? You were the one who freed me in the first place! Without you I would still be chained up in the tomb."

Seto crossed his arms in front of his chest and snarled venomously: "I admit it, I made a mistake. A mistake I am about to correct. And there's nothing you can do about it."

"You know what? Just fuck the hell off. I don't need you." He said with fury blazing in his eyes, turned around and vanished in a flash of light, leaving back a still fuming teen that was suddenly fully aware of the four sets of eyes staring at his back.

AN: Well, that backfired, didn't it? Btw, I need your opinion. Do you think I should give Yami his name, or should he stay 'the nameless one'?


	6. Regret

Sonnenaufgang

by Nyan

AN: In case I don't get another one up till September, I will be abroad the whole month. I will take my brother's laptop with me, but I have no idea how much free time I will have. Just that you are prepared for another long break.

Thanks to Blue September, for correcting my stupid mistakes all the time!

Chapter 6 Regrets

Seto Kaiba felt a group of people rush past him, as he slowly calmed down.

"Don't bother. He's gone."

Now that he could think straight again, he mentally berated himself. '_Wonderful. Just wonderful. I had him right where I wanted him. How is this… person able to infuriate me like this by simply existing?! And I don't want to start thinking about how he vanished like that again_.'

He suddenly felt the black haired woman standing in front of him and focused his attention on her.

"Who are you?" she asked, nearly hissing. "What did you hear?"

The brunet sent her an arrogant glare and answered calmly, "I am Seto Kaiba. As for what I heard; only what you said, and that happened to be neither much nor particularly helpful."

"What do you have to do with the nameless one?" She wanted to know, seemingly not a bit intimidated.

But before he could reply, he heard the albino pipe up. "Are you that Japanese business man that was in the tomb when it collapsed?"

"Hn."

The woman looked at the white haired teen surprised. "How do you know?"

Now Ryou turned cherry red. "I didn't think it was important, so I didn't mention it. There was another survivor of the accident beside my father. Him."

Isis sent him a slightly irritated glance. "Everything is important. Every little detail could be, and obviously is, vital."

Seto finally grew irritated of the sudden lack of attention and cleared his throat. '_Now that I'm here I can at least get some answers_.'

"What is this all about? Who is this 'nameless one' and why all the fuss about him?"

Isis and her younger brother exchanged glances, and this time it was Malik who spoke first.

"First we need to know why you are so interested in him. And why you were eavesdropping our conversation with him."

This question startled the young CEO a bit. '_Yes, why am I even that interested in him_?' He was already about to tell them to mind their own business, when it occurred him that he would probably not get his questions answered if he said that. With a mental sigh he started.

"Well, first of all, it's more or less my responsibility that he's free. And that's not something good, since the first thing he did was kill someone." An almost too quiet little voice in the back of his head added: '_Yes, someone who had voiced his own murderous thoughts only seconds earlier._'

Ignoring that thought he continued: "So I want him somewhere in a prison, or if there is no other way, lock him up in that tomb of his again, since that seems to be what you want. I still don't get what the point behind this would be, but as long as he's out of my way it's OK.

"As for why I was here with him; I wanted to find him and stumbled over you. And as much as I hate to admit it, that we were together isn't my doing. He found me, not the other way round."

Finally satisfied with what he had said he raised an eyebrow and glared expectantly at the others.

"You're right. We want to return him to the tomb. But that's a long story and we don't know everything about it. We, the tomb keepers are more or less a clan that has protected the tomb of the nameless one from damages, robbers and of course nosy archaeologists for about three thousand years."

"Wait, are you telling me that this boy has been living for three thousand years?"

"If you call it living, yes."

The brunet snorted. "Well, he certainly doesn't look very dead. Or do you mean he is replaced once he's dead?" he asked, suddenly feeling very uneasy at the thought of being in the middle of a crazy cult, who would randomly torture children to death for some reason.

"The nameless one has been the same for three thousand years. I meant that he isn't completely alive anymore. When he first entered the tomb he gained a certain kind of immortality. He can't be killed like a normal human, but cannot live either. I don't know how or why he escaped the tomb, and we're pretty sure it's never happened before, so we have no idea how he'll react or how he'll cope with his surroundings. And we don't know what will happen to him or his duty if we don't return him as soon as possible."

Seto stared unbelievingly at them. '_Do they actually think I'd believe this crap? Are they even aware of how ridiculous this whole story is?_' After a short debate with himself what absolutely ridiculous detail to bring up first he finally decided to pick the one they could possibly have an explanation for.

"If he has been in there for three millennia, how could he possibly have been able to speak and understand Arabian? I guess the language around here didn't stay the same for all this time," He asked sarcastically.

The tomb keepers were speechless. The platinum blonde tilted his head to the side. "He's right. We all heard the nameless one yell at him. It was a little old fashioned Arabic, but definitely not that old."

Satisfied with the reaction he got the CEO leaned against a huge box and curiously waited how they would possibly explain this.

Isis sighted. "I'm sure there is an explanation for this. But right now we don't have the time to bother with something trivial like that."

The brunet thought he had heard wrong. '_How can they just shove it aside like that? They must be the worst sort of fanatics_.'

But before he could place a statement Malik had continued to speak again.

"The reason why he actually is in the tomb is that he has made a contract with the spirits of dawn that they would grant him one wish. In exchange for that wish he would let the spirits feed on his blood forever. We have no idea what that wish was, we're merely in charge of ensuring that nothing disturbs him. And, needless to say, we failed."

'_This is a dream. A nightmare. I'm going to wake up at any moment. I'll wake up, realize I had something wrong to eat the day before and will make sure to never be in this part of the world. And the worst of it is that I actually wanted to side with them. I wanted to… God! I was perfectly fine with the idea of returning the boy to the condition he was in before I found him. I don't want to know how they would have done it. But if they need his blood, they would most likely…_'

As if on cue, he suddenly tuned into Malik's voice again.

"… and because he lost his memories in the process too, it will be hard to convince him to return of his own free will. We're glad you want to help us, because we may even have to use force. You see, the spells we'll have to use to reopen the wounds require his consciousness and that could get pretty hard if he isn't co-operating…"

'_Hell, No! They're practically admitting that he doesn't agree with all of this. And they want me to join their sadistic rituals! I can't believe I would have handed him to them if I got my hands on him! I wouldn't wish my worst enemies to be tortured like that. OK, maybe one or two who really deserve it, but certainly not someone underage. And not for a murder I don't even have _real_ evidence he committed.'_

With his thoughts still spinning, the teenage CEO could feel a harsh pang of guilt. The realisation of that made him only more convinced not to drown in self pity over his situation, but to fix the problem once and for all.

AN: Um… Yeah, that was it. I actually like this chapter. I can't say why, and that doesn't even necessarily have to be a good sign. This one was a bit rushed. I didn't have too much time to think it through. (Something I normally do up to 50 times per chapter.) Meaning there could be tons of OOC's I didn't even notice. Ah, well please tell me what you think!


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